Are my redfooted tortoises' shells healthy?

Annakd

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We have these two redfooted tortoises (approximately 1 year old). the shell on their stomach is starting to look a bit dark. Also the middle is a bit soft. We have heard a lot about shell rot, and we really want to make sure that they are alright. Can someone please take a look and let us know if you see anything bad.. thank you!!

IMG_0472.JPG IMG_0471.JPG IMG_0470.JPG IMG_0469.JPG
 

Yvonne G

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Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

They look fine to me. Shell rot starts off by looking like light colored erosion patches. I think the darkness you're seeing is merely the color pattern. And baby's shells usually have a bit of 'give' to them for the first 6 months or so. Just make sure to feed plenty of calcium-rich foods and give them a good UVB light to help the calcium work, and they should be ok.

What do you feed them? What kind of lighting do you use?
 

TammyJ

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What's the diet? That looks like a whole lot of cucumber...I always make sure to mix up at least four different important greens/weeds for them, for example - gratered pumpkin, chopped ochra, chopped mustard greens, kale, then next day, crushed hard boiled egg, chopped green beans, banana, opuntia cactus, and so on. If you give them a heap of just one item, it will be less nutritious and they will just fill up on one thing. variety is good!
 

Annakd

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Actually it's zucchini, which we don't usually feed them, but wanted to see if they liked (which they did). We try to variate between different salads (romaine, lambs lettuce, weeds from the garden, sometimes spinach) a bit of fruit/vegetables and occasionally some protein like egg and shrimps. And of course always calcium/vitamin powder on top. we don't feed them just cucumber, as it has absolutely no nutritional value :)
 

TerrapinStation

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Very good looking Reds. I know I got worried too when new colors started showing up, but that is just how they grow.

Now another question since you have 2 RF's. Do you keep them together?
 

Annakd

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Yes, we keep them together. Why?
Thank you for the responses. We find them very pretty as well :):tort:
 

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